Cone marking apparatus



Jan. 12, 1960 H. v. HUMPHRIES CONE MARKING APPARATUS Filed July I5, 1957ITWVEBTW EOTI Howavd V H m l'wies b y 0% M His A t tov is shown ingreater detail in Figures 3 and 4.

United States Patentt) CONE MARKING APPARATUS Howard V. Humphries,Covington, Va., assignor to Industrial Rayon Corporation, Cleveland,Ohio, a corporation of Delaware Application July 3, 1957, Serial No.669,891

4 Claims. or. 118-244) This invention relates to apparatus for markingor identifying cones or cone-shaped holders of the kind that areordinarily employed for holding a quantity of yarn.

As is well-known, various kinds of yarns are generally wound on conesfor various types of final uses. Very often this winding is done onspecification in the same area and it is therefore desirable to keep theyarn cones separated or easily identifiable especially in the event thatthey are mixed during handling. A common method for identifying cones isto use a variety of colors where each color signifies a particular yarn.Yarn identifying colors are generally placed on a cone tip by hand; oreach cone tip is manually impressed onto a colored pad. Mechanical spraydevices are also utilized. These and other methods can be timeconsuming, involve substantial manual handling, as well as costly in theuse of unnecessary quantities of paints.

This invention provides for a simple mechanical cone marking apparatusthat will identify cone cores in minimum time, with desired coloring, inan economical manner. A stack of a number of cones arranged as atelescopic unit is advantageously and easily marked in one pass over theapparatus of this invention, each cone tip being marked with a coloredband or stripe across its inner and top portions in a matter of a fewseconds. More specifically, the invention comprises either an upright ora horizontal support including a paint holder and applicator whichdistributes and marks With a Wheel partly immersed in a paint reservoirinner and top cone tips as fast as they are thrust over it. Thus atelescopic unit of cones, by being thrust over the paint distributingwheel and withdrawn thereover, are immediately and efficiently markedwith a desired color, with a minimum measured amount of coloring matter.

This invention will be more completely described in A the followingspecification and the accompanying drawing where:

Figure 1 represents in side elevation one form of the marking apparatus;

Figure 2 is a view looking down on a cone core and disclosing anidentifying mark;

Figure 3 represents, in section, the head of the support of the markingapparatus; and the paint holding and marking apparatus within it;

Figure 4 is a further sectional view of the apparatus of Figure 3; and

Figure 5 represents one form of the marking apparatus mounted in ahorizontal position.

Referring to Figure 1 there is shown a tubular vertical support mountedon a suitable base 11 having at its top an enlarged section 12 in whichis positioned, as generally outlined, the paint applicator 14. Atelescopic unit of cone cores is thrust over the head toward the base 10then withdrawn, each cone tip being marked by paint placed thereon bythe applicator 14 as is shown in Figure 2.

The upper section 12 housing the paint applicator 14 It is 2,920,605Patented Jan. 12, 1960 shaped in the form of a torpedo having a conicaltip 16 with a downwardly extending cylindrical hollow body 17. Thecylindrical portion 17 is adapted to frictionally slip over the mainsupport 10. Wall support bearings 18 are provided in the wall of thesupport 10 for the trunnions 20 extending from each side of the paintreservoir 21. A narrow passage 22 in the base of the paint reservoir 21extends to and connects the reservoir with a wheel 24 having an arcuateand serrated surface.

The applicator wheel 24 is positioned in an offset position on theangular extension 26 at an angle so that it is in frictional contactwith the interior curler portion of a cone tip as it is thrust orslipped over the applicator wheel 24. The paint reservoir 21 is mountedfor a limited rotation about its trunnions 20. The wheel 24 iscontinually being urged outwardly to roll over the curled interior of acone tip or head by means of a leaf spring 27 attached to the reservoirand bearing against the interior of the support 10. The wheel 24 is thusalways forced outwardly being limited by the wall of the support 10 inwhich it is positioned.

In order to maintain the paint applying wheel 24 in positionirrespective of direction of movement of a cone unit there is provided acompression spring 30 bearing against the inside of the section 17 andagainst an arcuate cover 31 positioned in the top of the paint reservoir21. The spring 30 exerts downward pressure on the reservoir fixing itsposition against displacement but it also maintains the cover 31 inposition for preventing paint from being splattered.

In operation the cones are generally stacked one on another to provide alength that can be handled, in a telescopic relation, as a single unit.This telescopic unit is then thrust over the top section of the paintapplicator towards the base; the last cone having been cleared over themarking device the unit is then withdrawn. There is thus applied acolored marking in both directions on a cone tip on the same area or, ifthe unit of cones is twisted after having cleared the wheel 24 to overtwo separated areas.

Where it is desired to handle a telescopic unit of cones in a horizontalmanner the marking apparatus of Figure 1 can be supported in a levelmanner as shown in Figure 5. The telescopic cone unit is passed over andwithdrawn in the same manner hereinabove described. In such a positionthe paint reservoir 14 and marking wheel 24 must, of course, be flexiblysupported in a vertical as well as horizontal direction in the head 12on the horizontally maintained support 10 against displacement by theoccasional contacts of the cone tips. The support 10 on its base 11, insuch an arrangement, is secured to a Wall to an upright 32.

What is claimed is:

l. A cone marking apparatus comprising, a support of smaller diameterthan a cone it is to mark, a paint reservoir in said support, means forflexibly supporting said reservoir in said support, a paint applyingdevice angularly attached to said reservoir so as to extend exteriorlyof said support and having access to said reservoir, said paint applyingdevice being adapted to frictionally apply paint to a cone passingthereover.

2. A cone marking apparatus comprising, a hollow support of smallerdiameter than a cone it is to mark, a paint reservoir pivotallypositioned within said support, an offset portion attached to saidreservoir having a passage from said reservoir and a paint applyingwheel at the end of such passage, a resilient means in contact with theinterior of said hollow support and said reservoir for urging said wheeloutwardly, and a wall opening in said hollow support for said wheel,

said wheel marking cones when they are frictionally passed thereover. v

support, an oifset portion attached to said reservoir having a passagefrom said reservoir and a paint applying wheelvat the end of suchpassage, a resilient means in contact with the interior of said hollowsupport and said reservoir for urging said wheel outwardly, a secondresilient means generally vertically pressing on said reservoir tomaintain it against vertical displacement, and

said Wheel extending beyond said opening for marking cones when they arefrictionally passed thereover.

4. A cone marking apparatus comprising, a support of smaller diameterthan a cone it is to mark, a paint 15 reservoir in said support, a paintapplying Wheel partly immersed in paint positioned in said reservoir,said paint applying wheel being rotatable upon application of frictionalpressure by a cone passing thereover, and flexible means bearing againstsaid support for urging said paint applying Wheel against a passingcones inner surface.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS221,939 Root Nov. 25, 1879 2,198,519 Tarr Apr, 23, 1940 2,432,401 EtemDec. 9, 1947 FOREIGN PATENTS 519,702 Canada Dec. 20, 1955

